It might be hard to believe that almost a decade has slipped by since Google introduced what was then billed as an "experimental fiber network" that would not only deliver speeds of 1 Gbit/s to the home and explore new bandwidth-intensive services and applications, but also be "open" to other service providers.

While Google's notion of an "open" network didn't take shape, Google Fiber Inc. has gone well beyond an experiment, as it followed with expansions to many more and teamed baseline broadband service with pay-TV and voice offerings, and later extending service to business customers.